Teutonic Crusades

The Teutonic Crusades (1191-1525) were a series of wars between the Christian powers of western Europe and the Orthodox and Pagan nations of Eastern Europe. An offshoot of the Crusades in the Near East, these wars were fought mainly between the Teutonic Order and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, although they also fought against Novgorod; the Kingdom of Poland swayed between sides depending on the aggressor. The wars, which saw paganism stand up to Christianity (although Lithuania later converted to Christendom), ended in 1525 when the last Teutonic stronghold of Marienburg was captured by the Polish and the Teutonic Knights ceased to be a military power.

Background
In the 1000s, conflict flared up in the Baltic states when King Wladyslaw I of Poland launched campaigns against the pagan Livonians in present-day Latvia and Lithuania. The Kingdom of Poland rose to power as a great nation in eastern Europe, and one of few that adhered to the Papal States. However, the Orthodox Novgorod grand duchy also rose in fame as they conquered the Kievan Rus and established themselves as the masters of Russia. The threat posed by the rise of Orthodoxy as well as a resurgence of pagan warfare resulted in the Polish inviting the Teutonic Order (a monastic order of crusading knights founded in Acre in 1191) to assist them in the crusades against the infidels.

Early Warfare
The Poles found themselves betrayed by their erstwhile partners as the Teutonic Order had an enemy-friend pendulum swinging; the knights plundered Poland at times, and at other times asked for their military assistance. The Pope did not control the knights as they would a kingdom, so the Teutonic Order was a mad dog without a leash. They set up their capital at Marienburg, and had many chapters spread across eastern Europe, including one called the "Livonian Brothers of the Sword". In 1236, the pagans achieved their first victory by defeating the Livonian Brothers at the Battle of Saule, with Lithuanian leaders Mindaugas, Vykintas, Tautvilas, and Edivydas ambushing and cutting down the knights.

Meanwhile, Novgorod repulsed attacks by the Swedes, ending in the 1240 Battle of the Neva. The Order and an army of German crusading knights invaded Russia in hopes of taking control of the Orthodox lands and converting them to Papal authority, but Grand Duke Alexander Nevski defeated the crusaders in the 1242 Battle on the Ice. This battle ensured that Novgorod would remain in the game.

In 1241, the Mongol Empire invaded Poland while they expanded farther east. Previously, in 1238, they conquered most of Russia, although Novgorod paid them a handsome tribute to avoid their occupation. In 1241, at the Battle of Liegnitz, the Mongols destroyed the Polish and Crusader army, and they settled down with their capital at Kiev. The result was the establisment of the Golden Horde as a major power in the Crusades.

Rise of Novgorod
After the "Battle on the Ice", there was no reason why Novgorod could not become a great empire. Alexander Nevski had designs on the conquest of the surrounding Rus rebel regions, but he also dreamed of pushing the Danes out of Estonia, the Teutonic Knights out of Livonia, and the Mongols out of Belarus and Ukraine. In 1250, Nevski's son Prince Dmitrii conquered Mstislavl from Captain Iosif's Rus rebels, expanding the Novgorodian empire. In 1253 he conquered the city of Tosno, northeast from Novgorod, from the Rus rebels of Captain Kozel. At the same time, Dmitrii took Mglin from Captain Chort's Rus rebels.

Five years later, Novgorod entered war with Denmark in the Novgorodian-Danish War, taking control of Narva quickly. In Ukraine, Chornobyl was taken by Dmitrii from the Rus rebels, adding a new province to Novgorod's empire.